Pacific Biosciences of California (NASDAQ:PACB) Shares Up 7.3% – Here’s Why

Pacific Biosciences of California, Inc. (NASDAQ:PACB)’s share price shot up 7.3% during mid-day trading on Monday. The stock traded as high as $2.24 and last traded at $2.2650. 2,589,406 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 68% from the average daily volume of 7,967,515 shares. The stock had previously closed at $2.11.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

PACB has been the topic of several recent research reports. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Pacific Biosciences of California from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Saturday, August 8th. Weiss Ratings upgraded Pacific Biosciences of California from a “sell (e+)” rating to a “sell (d-)” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 13th. Finally, UBS Group assumed coverage on Pacific Biosciences of California in a report on Wednesday, September 9th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $1.35 target price on the stock. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating, three have given a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Pacific Biosciences of California presently has a consensus rating of “Reduce” and an average target price of $1.71.

Pacific Biosciences of California Stock Performance

The firm’s 50 day moving average is $1.74 and its 200-day moving average is $1.60. The stock has a market capitalization of $893.64 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -6.71 and a beta of 2.19.

Pacific Biosciences of California (NASDAQ:PACB) last released its quarterly earnings results on Monday, August 3rd. The biotechnology company reported ($0.14) EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.13) by ($0.01). The firm had revenue of $39.01 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $42.90 million. Pacific Biosciences of California had a negative net margin of 82.49% and a negative return on equity of 5,752.12%. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Pacific Biosciences of California, Inc. will post -0.52 earnings per share for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, insider Mark Van Oene sold 26,911 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $1.13, for a total value of $30,409.43. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 2,705,853 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,057,613.89. This trade represents a 0.98% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. Also, insider James Gibson, II sold 661,815 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, October 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $3.11, for a total value of $2,058,244.65. Following the transaction, the insider owned 1,083,848 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,370,767.28. This represents a 37.91% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Company insiders own 3.70% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Pacific Biosciences of California

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Choreo LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Pacific Biosciences of California during the 3rd quarter worth about $27,000. Interchange Capital Partners LLC acquired a new position in Pacific Biosciences of California in the third quarter valued at about $28,000. China Universal Asset Management Co. Ltd. boosted its stake in Pacific Biosciences of California by 14.7% during the third quarter. China Universal Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 56,714 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $134,000 after buying an additional 7,282 shares during the period. AdvisorNet Financial Inc boosted its stake in Pacific Biosciences of California by 17.2% during the third quarter. AdvisorNet Financial Inc now owns 178,288 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $423,000 after buying an additional 26,166 shares during the period. Finally, Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Pacific Biosciences of California during the second quarter valued at about $53,000.

About Pacific Biosciences of California

Pacific Biosciences of California, Inc (NASDAQ: PACB) is a life sciences technology company that develops and supplies DNA sequencing systems, consumables and related software. The company is best known for its single-molecule, real-time (SMRT) sequencing technology, which produces highly accurate long-read data used to analyze complex genomes, structural variation, genetic disease and other biological information.

PacBio’s product portfolio includes the Revio long-read sequencing system, the Sequel II and Sequel IIe platforms, sequencing consumables and the associated data-analysis software.